The Forgotten Child
by Gemzgurl
Summary: Harry meets Lei, a girl with major power who claims to be his twin, but what happens when he learns a secret about Lei that not even she knows?
1. The Letter of Fate

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl  
Summary: One day Harry Potter gets a letter from an Italian girl claiming to be his long lost twin sister. Dark wizards have attacked her house in Italy in hopes of kidnapping her and taking her to Lord Voldermort so he can steal her powers. It's now up to Harry to protect her from all kinds of dark wizards who want her.... dead. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
Harry lay on his bed with his window open in the hopes of catching a breeze that he somehow knew wasn't going to come in. The temperature had soared past 75 degrees Fahrenheit around ten o'clock that morning. Suddenly, a large tawny owl flew into the window and landed on his bed beside him. Harry took the rolled up piece of parchment from the bird, which then flew out the window.  
Harry opened the letter and read:  
Dear Harry:  
I know this is going to sound insane, and I also know that you probably won't believe me at first. But it's really important that you do understand and believe. My name is Lei Potter. I'm your twin sister, but we were separated after you-know-what happened. I was adopted and taken to Italy by a very kind couple. They wanted to take you, too, but they couldn't because they were only allowed a certain number of kids, and when they got me, they reached their limit. That's how you got landed with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.  
Back to my point, dark wizards have attacked my house here in Italy and killed my adoptive family in the hopes of kidnapping me, but I was lucky and got away. Right now I really need your help, Harry.  
It's unfair of me to bring this all on you so suddenly, and I know that you shouldn't have to do this or anything, but it isn't like I have a choice in the matter. In fact, if I had my way, you wouldn't even know about me. Why, you ask? Well, in case you haven't noticed, almost every book written about Voldermort (oh sorry, do you say His name? If you don't, I'm sorry if you cringed; it's a bad habit I have of saying His name, although personally, I don't really fear Him or His name) only includes the name Harry James Potter, while Lei Annelle Potter is never mentioned. Only in Italy have I ever seen my name in books. To be blunt, I am the forgotten child.  
Knowing this much about me, you might be able to tell that I am not too happy to go and live with you and become known as Harry Potter's Little Sister (yes, I'm younger, but only by two hours!) but it doesn't seem like I have much of a choice, now do I? I guess you don't have to come and help me, but then you will have this huge guilty feeling that you let your own flesh and blood get killed or worse haunting you for the rest of your life. So, it's your choice. You can either help me or abandon me, just like the rest of the magical world has (you know, all that minor forgetting that I just happen to walk the planet, too).  
Oh yes, I might as well throw in this letter that I have a whole lot of power, which is why all of these dark and evil wizards are after me. They all want my powers, especially Him.  
I can't explain my powers to you now, because if I write anymore, I'm afraid I will have no time to find a place to stay until you figure out what you're going to do.  
Your Sis,  
Lei  
Harry read and reread the letter from Lei, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Why did he have to help her if she had all of these "powers"? Couldn't she just save herself? Maybe she didn't have any powers at all. Maybe she was just some poor Muggle who needed attention. But then how would she know about Voldermort, and why was she saying his name? More like she had written it, but still. Most wizards couldn't even write His name down. What if she wasn't really his sister, anyway?  
On the other hand, what if she was his sister, and she was in trouble with dark wizards after her powers? What could Harry do to help her? Why didn't she just save herself, if she had all of these powers? Why wait until now to tell him about herself?  
But she was right about one thing. Well, two things, actually. The world had basically forgotten that she existed, which Harry felt bad about, and if he didn't help her, Harry would have this huge feeling of guilt following him around for the rest of his life. Lei would haunt his mind and would soon she would be all that he could think about, and he could sink into a deep depression. Okay, maybe he was slightly exaggerating.  
Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley were all out of the house, "running errands," according to Aunt Petunia, but Harry had this feeling that they had all gone to the circus, which was coincidently in town for today only.  
He reached underneath his bed and pulled out a piece of parchment, an inkbottle and a quill and began to write back to this girl who claimed to be his sister.  
Lei,  
I can help you. I don't know how I will, but I will. You might as well come here, but I don't think Aunt and Uncle (or Dudley, their overly fat "son." I have a suspicion that he is part whale) will let you stay here with us, but I'm sure I could find you a place with someone to stay. Don't worry about that. I promise that I can help in some way.  
Your Brother, I guess,  
Harry  
Author's Note: Well, what do you think? I think this is going to be a very interesting story. I've got loads of ideas for it to continue, but I want to make sure you guys like it before I continue. So, please review! 


	2. Harry's Twin

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
"This is so exciting!" exclaimed Hermione as soon as she got the news of Harry's twin sister. "Absolutely amazing! I can't believe it, Harry. You have a sibling!"  
"How do you know this isn't some hoax?" Ron asked trying to balance his and Ginny's books at once while she went to the bathroom. They were all at Diagon Alley, collecting their school things. School started in a week, but they were a little late getting their books.  
"I don't," Harry replied shrugging his shoulders. "But who am I to deny someone who's in trouble my services? Okay, maybe that sounded a little dumb, but I think you guys get the point."  
"I don't know, Harry," Hermione said, suddenly skeptical. "Ron does have a point. It could be some strange person just claiming to be your long lost sister. This could be really dangerous. She could be really dangerous. I'm not so sure that this is a good idea anymore."  
"Well, I'll never know what she's like or if she's dangerous until I meet her, now will I? I've always thought that we should take chances and in case it turns out bad, you'll learn from your mistakes, now won't you?"  
"I dunno, Harry, this could be a really bad thing to do," Ginny put in after she came back from the bathroom. She walked over toward her brother and took her pile of books from him. "All we're trying to say is to be careful. You have no idea what this girl is going to be like."  
"So, how is she going to get here?" Ron asked.  
"You know, I haven't thought of that," Harry said. "I wonder if she can Disapperate? If she can, that would make things a lot easier. Hmm. I guess this means that she's going to go to Hogwarts, too. Should we tell Dumbledore that she's coming, or do you think he would know?"  
"Never mind that, where's she going to stay?" Ginny put in. "I mean, it would sound logical for her to stay with you, since she is your sister and everything, but I seriously doubt that your aunt and uncle will let her."  
"I only told Lei that I would help her, I didn't go into great detail about everything. I knew that I couldn't let her stay with me, obviously." Harry rubbed his head. He had a headache. He didn't know that this girl would cause so much trouble when she wasn't even here yet.  
---Somewhere in the back streets of Florence, Italy---  
A girl of sixteen walked alone in a dark alleyway. It was chilly, and the only thing that she had to keep her warm was a flimsy sweater, which she hugged tighter to her body. She shivered and felt terribly alone now, something she had never felt in her entire life. Someone had always been around her, and now there was no one. Her family had always been there. Always. But now thanks to her "uniqueness," as her mamma used to call it, had gotten her whole family killed, which left her alone and helpless.  
That's when it finally hit her. Her whole family was dead, as in she would never see them again, as long as she lived. She dumped her body against a wall and put her head in her knees and began to sob. The sky opened up and wept with her.  
"Aw, look at the little girl, all alone out here," drawled a voice in Italian somewhere above the girl's head full of red hair. She looked up to see a man dressed in a business suit. He stared into her perfect blue eyes. "You know, you shouldn't out her all by your lonesome." He was mocking her.  
She stood up and glared at the man that was disrespecting her. "Don't ridicule me," she answered defensively. That's when she recognized the man. He was one the wizard's that had killed her family. "Stay away from me," she said, but couldn't help the fear that crept up in her voice. She tried to back up, but she only pressed herself against the wall.  
The rain poured down on their heads, but the man was the only one who made a move for his umbrella, which was certainly magically water repellent. The girl smiled inside, forming a plan for that water repellent umbrella and the man who carried it. "You are a murderer. You killed my parents, my little brother, my two oldest sisters. You are a horrible man, a total disgrace to the human race." She was concentrating on the umbrella while she spoke to the wretched man. He was smiling derisively.  
Suddenly, the umbrella caught fire, and the man quickly dropped it. The rain wasn't putting it out, just as the girl had suspected it wouldn't. The man was foolishly shooting water out of his wand, but that didn't help to extinguish the fire. Using the time it took the man to get the fire to stop burning his umbrella, the girl ran as fast as she could to get out of the alleyway.  
"I'LL GET YOU IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" the man yelled after the girl. He would have smiled at the irony of the line if he weren't in such a foul mood. If he didn't get that girl, it would be last thing that he would do.  
---Back in Diagon Ally---  
There was a small popping noise in front of Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny and the redheaded, blue eyed girl from Italy appeared, on her knees, in front of them, cold, wet and crying. She looked up at their shocked faces. She quickly wiped her eyes on the thin sweater she had around her and stood up.  
"W-who are you?" Ron managed to choke out.  
"Mi chiamo Lei Potter," she answered. They looked confused. "Mi dispiace. I'm sorry. You do not understand Italian. My name is Lei Potter. I am Harry's twin sister." *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
Author's Note: Ciao. Mille grazie! That's Italian for Thank you very much. I need to learn more Italian...I am obsessed with Italy, and I want to learn how to speak all of Italian. Anyway, what did you think about this chapter? I think I made Lei seem a little conceited in the first chapter, and I'm sorry. But you must understand that her whole family was just killed, and she's a little upset that everyone basically forgot about her, while Harry was all they could ever talk about. By the way, this takes place in their sixth year of Hogwarts. Yeah, well anyway, I have to go. Hoped you enjoy the chapter. 


	3. Who Shall Take Her?

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl  
  
"So, this is my sister," said a black haired, green-eyed boy in astonishment. Lei assumed this was Harry. "Was that Italian that you were speaking? I've never heard Italian, you know. That's kind of cool, that you know another language, I mean." He realized he was babbling, so he shut up.  
"If you've lived in Italy so long, how come you can speak English, too?" a redheaded girl with lots of freckles asked Lei.  
"My mother taught me to speak many languages," Lei replied. "Yes, that was Italian that I was speaking. That was the first language I learned to speak."  
"How did you get here?" the other redhead asked. It was the same one who asked who she was. "I mean you just kind of popped out of nowhere."  
"Magic," was Lei's reply. "A thing that my school in Italy taught me. They didn't teach me much, however. I learned mostly on my own."  
"I thought that Italy's magic school was supposed to be one of the best schools to learn magic at," a girl with bushy brown hair and brown eyes said to Lei. "According to the book that I'm reading now, Italy's magic schools are very prestigious. So why didn't they teach you very well?"  
"Oh, Italy's schools are indeed very prestigious," Lei agreed. "But you must understand that the teachers there didn't know how to handle me. You see I am a very powerful witch. Italy had never seen someone like me before, and had seen nothing of the powers that I carry. They don't understand me, and to tell you the truth, sometimes I don't even understand me."  
"Fascinating," the bushy-haired girl said. She extended her hand to Lei. "My name is Hermione Granger. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lei."  
Lei took the hand that was held out to her and shook it, smiling. "I'm glad to meet you, as well, Hermione." Hermione smiled, and then elbowed Ron and Ginny in the side.  
"Oh, right, sorry," the redheaded girl said. "My name's Virginia Weasley, but please call me Ginny. Everyone else does." She crinkled her freckle-covered nose. "And besides, I like Ginny much better."  
"I'm Ron Weasley, Ginny's brother," the other redhead said. "One of them, anyway." He rolled his eyes. "We've got a lot of other brothers. Five of them to be exact. There's seven of us Weasley kids all together, and mum and dad make nine."  
"And I'm Harry," the black haired one said. "You're brother. Man, it's so weird to hear me say that." He shook his head. "You say I'm the older one?" Lei nodded.  
Now that the introductions were done, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny all took the time to really look at Lei, mostly just to try and find similarities between her and Harry. They didn't find many, however.  
Lei Potter was about five feet six inches tall, a rough estimate done by Ron, while Harry was a bit taller, around five feet seven and a half inches tall. Lei had dark red hair that went almost to the middle of her back that curled at the ends, though they couldn't tell whether it was natural or not. Her arms and legs were long and slender, and she didn't seem very muscular. Her eyes were deep cobalt, unlike Harry's.  
They still had a few qualities that were the same. They were both very skinny for their age. Lei said that she did have to wear glasses, but then she got contacts, so that meant that they both had bad eyesight. And of course, Lei was a girl.  
"When's your birthday?" Ron asked suddenly. Hermione and Ginny both rolled their eyes. He was so paranoid sometimes.  
"July 31st, 2:00 a.m.," she replied instantly. "What, you don't believe that I'm Harry's twin? Please." She also rolled her eyes at him.  
"I just don't trust you," he answered. His eyes narrowed at her.  
"Fine. Don't trust me. I didn't expect for everyone to like me. But whether you like it or not, I'm Harry's twin sister, and I have been for the past sixteen years." She shrugged. "It's up to all of you to decide if you trust me or not, I can't decide for you. I understand that stuff like this doesn't happen everyday, and you guys have every right not to believe me, and if you don't, it's not like I'm going to bite your head off or something. If you don't trust me, just tell me, and I'll try to stay away from you or something."  
"You took that well," Ron said, still watching her carefully through his narrowed eyes.  
"Well, why wouldn't I? You don't think that I haven't had to deal with people that don't trust me? Ha. Hardly. When I tell people my last name and they asked if I'm related to the 'famous Harry Potter' I tell them yes, but half of them don't believe me. No one in my school liked me. They were scared of what I could do with my powers, and they didn't trust me. They called me a liar, talked behind my back, whispered whenever I was around. I'm used to it by now."  
"Not even one person wanted to try and get to know you?" Ginny asked quietly. "There must have been someone who wanted to be friends with you."  
"If they wanted to be my friend, they never mentioned it. I've never really had a friend, except my family, but I don't even have them anymore. Thanks to these powers of mine, I got them killed. I guess everyone should be afraid of my powers. God knows I am."  
"That's terrible!" said Hermione. "I am so sorry, Lei." She frowned.  
"That isn't your fault," Lei answered. "But thank you. I'll get used to it, and it's not like I'm going to start going into depression or something. I'm really looking forward to having a new life here. Italy was great, but I'm sure England will be fun, too." She smiled.  
"Well, first and foremost we need to find out where you are going to stay," Harry said. "If you're going to live here and go to Hogwarts, you need somewhere to stay. I don't want to make you miserable here, and I would be doing that by making you stay with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Dudley's bad enough, beating me up all the time."  
"So, where could I stay? I don't want to be a bother to you, or anything."  
"Maybe she could stay with us!" Ginny said happily. She'd be delighted if another girl came to live with them. Then she wouldn't be the only girl in the house (besides her mum)! "You'd fit right in, with your red hair, even though it isn't bright, like ours." 


	4. Kathia Johannes

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl  
  
"Oh no, Ginny. She's not living with us!" Ron folded his arms across his chest, the argument final. "No way she's staying with us."  
"You could stay with me, I suppose," Hermione offered kindly, "but my parents work a lot and aren't really home often enough to take care of us both. But I wouldn't mind the extra company. I hope you don't mind having a cat around, though."  
"Cat's are cool. Why? Do you have a cat?"  
"Yes, his name is Crookshanks," Hermione replied, grinning. "I got him three years ago. He's really great and---"she looked pointedly at Ron--- "he knows evil when he sees it."  
"Hermione, I think you and I are going to get along great." Lei smiled and put her arm around Hermione's shoulders in a show of friendship. "Is there somewhere that we can get a bite to eat and maybe talk about where I'm going to stay?"  
"That sounds like a good idea to me," Harry said. "I'm starving!"  
"You're always hungry, Harry." Ginny smiled. "You and Ron, over there. Between you two, I don't know who eats more."  
"It doesn't matter who eats more," Harry said. "All that matters is that we get some food and soon." He grinned around at everyone and got smiles back, even if Ron's smile was weak, while he was still glaring at Lei.  
They all decided on ice cream, and once they had ordered, they all sat down at a table and began eating. Silence was at the table for a while, but before long, the conversation started up again.  
"What if Lei was to stay with Mrs. Figg, down the street from Harry?" Ginny asked, taking a small bite of the banana spilt she was sharing with Hermione. "Then she and Harry wouldn't be very far away in case something happens, and Harry can just tell his aunt and uncle that he's been invited over for tea at Mrs. Figg's house."  
"I don't know," Harry said skeptically. "Everything she makes to eat tastes like cabbage, she's old, and she's got about a hundred cats."  
"I know a woman who lives in my neighborhood that I could talk to," Hermione offered. "She's really nice, and only about twenty three years old. She really likes kids, but doesn't have any."  
"She sounds nice," Lei said with a smile. "I think she'd be perfect, and she knows about magic, right? I mean, she's not a muggle, because that would be really hard for me to hide my magic from."  
"No, she told me a while ago that she used to go to Hogwarts. I don't know how she knew that I went, but she did. I think she would be really happy to look after you while you're here."  
"_Bene. Grazie_, Hermione."  
"Huh?" Ginny raised her eyebrow.  
"Oh, sorry, Ginny. I said, 'Good. Thank you, Hermione.'"  
"Oh, okay."   
Lei went home with Hermione and her parents, and while they were driving home---it was weird calling England home, since she had lived in Italy for so long---Lei wondered what this young woman who used to go to Hogwarts would be like, or if she would get along with her new roommate, she guessed she could call her.  
"Her name is Kathia Johannes (A/N: pronounced Cat-tia Yo-haun-is)," Hermione said from beside Lei in the backseat of the car, "but she told me to call her Kat, although I usually don't. She used to live in Germany, when she was a child. She lived there until she was fifteen years old, and then she switched into Hogwarts when she and her family moved to England. After she finished Hogwarts, she moved back to Germany for a while, until she was twenty, and then she moved back here, and moved into the house where she lives now."  
"Cool," Lei said with a smile. Now she really couldn't wait to talk to this Kathia Johannes of Germany, because she would understand what it felt like to move to another country. Bundles of nerves twisted in her stomach at the thought of meeting a new person, however, just like they always did.   
Ten minutes later, the car pulled up in front of a coffee-with-cream colored house, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger were telling Hermione that they would wait out front for her to come back from walking Lei up to meet Kathia. Lei's heart beat against her chest, and she wondered absentmindedly if she would ever be comfortable when meeting new people.  
As she stepped out of the car, Lei took in her surroundings. There were several trees in the front yard of the house, some pine trees, others aspens. Right in the front of the yard, there was a large patch of dirt in which beautiful, bright colored flowers were growing. The yard itself was a lush, well-kept emerald green. Lei thought it was beautiful.  
Hermione walked up the flagstone path in the middle of the yard that led up to a small, concrete front porch. Lei followed quietly behind her. Hermione knocked on the big oak door and waited expectantly. Lei swallowed, trying to calm her heart down. It was just another person, right? She hadn't had time to be nervous about meeting Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny because she had been to worried about that man from Italy following her.  
The heavy door opened then, and Lei took a deep breath as a lean young woman stepped out onto the porch. She had dark red hair and pale green eyes, and looked to be about five feet, nine inches or so. She was dressed in a short, black skirt and white shirt and had been putting a golden hoop through her ear; another hoop dangled from the other ear.  
"Hermione," the woman said cheerfully, smiling brightly, showing dimples in her cheeks. "How have you been? You haven't stopped by in a while." She waved towards the car and smiled again. Hermione's parents waved back.  
"Hello, Kathia," Hermione greeted, putting on her own smile. "This is my friend, Lei. She arrived from Italy today, and she's looking for a place to stay. She's transferring to Hogwarts," she added quietly, in case the neighbors were listening.  
"Well, hello there, Lei," Kathia said happily. "I'd be glad to have you stay here, if you don't mind, that is. Why don't you come in and get yourself settled." Kathia looked around, then asked, "Where's your luggage, kiddo?"  
"I don't have any," Lei said quietly. "I came rather suddenly."  
"Hmmm, well then, we'll have to go shopping for you after I get off work. I hate to be rude, but I'm supposed to work tonight, but not for very long. Only four hours or so." Kathia chewed her lip for a moment. "Hermione, I hope your parents don't mind watching Lei until I can come and get her after my shift ends. I'd hate to leave her all alone in a house she doesn't know, especially with Romeo and Phoebe there."  
"Romeo and Phoebe?" Lei asked.  
"My parrots," Kathia explained. "They talk non-stop." She rolled her eyes good heartedly.  
"I don't think my parents would mind watching Lei until you get off work, Kathia," Hermione said. "I'm sure that they will be happy that I have another friend."  
"I told you a million times, Hermione, please call me Kat. Kathia sounds so formal, and we're friends, and friends give each other nicknames, right?"  
"Right, Kat, anyway. I'll take Lei with me, okay? And then you can pick her up on your way home. What time do you get off work?"  
"Around five, so I'll be around five fifteen or so. I'll call you when I get off, okay?"  
Hermione and Lei nodded and then headed back for the car after exchanging goodbyes with Kat. Hermione quickly explained to her parents about the situation and they agreed that Lei shouldn't have to stay alone with the parrots.  
Lei felt like she was causing everybody a hassle, the one thing she didn't want to do in her first day in a new country. But at least Kathia seemed nice. Now all she had to worry about was Romeo and Phoebe. And whomever might have followed her to England. 


	5. Romeo and Phoebe

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl  
  
After they got home, Hermione showed Lei her bedroom. Lei looked around the room, awed at what she saw. Of course it was neat, tidy and organized, as was like Hermione, but there were three large bookshelves filled with books of all kinds. Some were magical, some just ordinary muggle-type books. There was a small keyboard in one corner of the room, which Hermione happily declared that it was her practicing board. She explained to Lei that she'd been playing the piano for a long time now, and she kept the keyboard in her room so she could practice in there sometimes. There was a full-sized piano downstairs.  
There was a wooden desk against one of the cream-colored walls that was piled high with some schoolbooks, parchment, ink and quills. When she went over to look more closely at the desk, Lei saw that it held another book: French for the Beginners. She looked over to Hermione with one eyebrow raised, and Hermione just gave a half-shrug, seeming a bit embarrassed. Right beside the desk was Hermione's school trunk, sitting with its top open, revealing neatly folded robes, scarves, skirts, white shirts and ties. There was also a book bag and a needle and thread tucked in the trunk.  
"What are these for?" Lei asked, pointing to the needle and thread.  
"Oh, those. My book bag breaks sometimes in during the year and I decided that I would start bringing a needle and thread to mend it if it were to break when I should happen to need it." Hermione shrugged and smiled. "I've been carrying them around since my third year at Hogwarts, when I was taking a wide variety of classes that required books that kept ripping my book bag."  
Just then, an orange cat came sauntering into Hermione's room, purring loudly and rubbing against Hermione's legs. The mangy little fellow wasn't much to look at, with clumps of fur missing and only one eye, but Hermione picked it up and cooed, stroking what was left of its fur.  
"This is Crookshanks, Lei," Hermione said, cuddling with the cat as if it were some adorable kitten. "You know, my cat that I was telling you about."  
Lei went over and scratched behind the cat's ear, which made him purred even louder as he rubbed his head against her hand. "Well, somehow I didn't quite expect him to look like this, but he's friendly. I quite like him."  
After meeting Crookshanks, Hermione took Lei on a grand tour of the house, showing her inside every room. In the dining room there was a grand piano, which Hermione ran her fingers over happily. Lei asked to hear a few songs on it, and Hermione eagerly agreed to play them for her. Not very long after that, it seemed, Kathia called to say she was on her way to come and get Lei. That's when Lei started getting really nervous.  
Kathia seemed like a very nice woman, sure, but Lei wasn't sure how to react around her. After all, she'd only spoke with her for a grand total of four minutes. What if Kathia didn't like her after she got settled in? What if Romeo and Phoebe, the parrots, didn't like her? Which of course was being simply silly. After all, why wouldn't Romeo, Phoebe and Kathia Johannes like her? Oh, yeah, that's right: it was easy for some people to dislike her after two minutes of talking to her, just because she said that she was Harry Potter's twin sister. Not that she had anything against Harry, or anything ridiculous like that. She knew that Harry had had a hard life, and that he didn't even realize she existed (until she wrote that letter to him). But that didn't mean that she didn't resent being the forgotten child, however. It was complicated, just like everything else in her life.  
At a knock on the door, Mrs. Granger came walking into the foyer and swung open the door and invited Kathia inside. Kathia came in, but "only for a moment," she said.  
"I'm afraid that I can't stay for long," Kathia apologized. "But it's almost feeding time for Romeo and Phoebe, and they get really cranky when they don't get fed on time, the silly things. You ready to go, Lei?" She turned her attention to Lei when she entered the hallway.  
"Yeah. Bye, Hermione. Thanks for letting me stay, Mrs. Granger. I really appreciate it." Lei patted Crookshanks on the head as he rubbed against her legs. He wasn't so bad to look at once you got used to him.  
After exchanging goodbyes, Kathia and Lei were out the door and getting into the car.  
"So, what brings you to England, Lei?" Kathia asked conversationally.  
"My foster parents were killed and I had no one to stay with. I have, ahem, distant relations here in England."  
"I'm sorry to hear that your parents were killed. That must feel awful. But I know something that'll cheer you right up. Three somethings, in fact." She grinned over at the young girl, who raised an eyebrow in puzzlement as the car pulled into Kathia's driveway.  
A few minutes later, Kathia was unlocking the oak door and opened it a tiny crack. In a whirlwind of feathers, the door was shut in their faces. Lei stepped back several feet, right off the concrete porch and into the yard in surprise. Kathia only made a tsking sound and tried to open the door again, only to have it slammed in face for a second time.  
"Now you listen here, you little monster, you are going to let me open the door right this instant," Kathia commanded. A throaty laugh came floated through the door, the sound loud and harsh in Lei's ears. Kathia sighed and said in a more gentle tone, "If I can't get in the house, I can't feed you, now can I?"  
She tried the door once again, and this time it opened right up, as Kathia thought it might. Using food threats was the only way to get through to those parrots of hers. She beckoned the frightened girl standing on the lawn to come inside the house. Lei came in slowly, as if reluctant to meet the birds that kept slamming the door on them.  
What neither of them noticed was a single, white daisy in Kathia's flower garden that was frozen solid.  
"Naughty, naughty, Kitty," cackled a hoarse voice from the corner of the couch. A large scarlet macaw sat on top of the couch, staring at them through glittering black eyes. "Kitty left us all alone, didn't you, Kitty?"  
Another cackle alerted them that another bird, a blue-and-gold macaw, was sitting on top of a birdcage that was hanging from the ceiling. Next to that cage was another one.  
Kathia pointed toward the scarlet macaw, and said, "Lei, this is Phoebe, the red parrot. And that one over there that is standing on top of his cage is Romeo. Phoebe, Romeo, this is Lei. She's going to be living with us from now on, okay? Make her feel welcome." She bent down to whisper in Lei's ear, "I'm going to be in the kitchen, working on their dinners. If you need anything or if they start bothering you, just holler."  
And with the words of warning left hanging in the air, Kathia went down a hallway to Lei's right and disappeared into a room, presumably the kitchen. Lei gulped as both pairs of black eyes focused on her. She looked from side to side as if looking for somewhere to escape. She looked down at the floor. By the door were a few blue and yellow feathers. So Romeo had been the one who had shut the door in her and Kathia's faces.  
A sudden flapping of wings and there was an enormous amount of weight on Lei's shoulder. Phoebe stuck her face right into Lei's, her beak touching her nose. Lei's eyes went wide in shock as those black eyes twinkled menacingly at her. She swallowed hard again and felt glad that Kathia hadn't wanted to leave her alone with these creatures and opted for Hermione's house.  
"Ah, the girly is feeling abandoned, is she?" squawked the bird on her shoulder loudly. "You're not alone, little one, little girl, _my little flower_."  
Lei gaped at the bird. A sudden flood of memories washed over her, but they were so mixed up that she didn't know where they had come from or even what the memories were of. All she clearly got was a soft voice cooing, "My little one, my little flower." 


	6. The Encounter With Evil and Evil Jr

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl  
  
A sudden ruffle of feathers took the weight of Phoebe off of Lei's shoulder again. Romeo flew from his spot on top of his cage, and landed, along with Phoebe, on one of Kathia's shoulders. In her hands she held two bowls filled with small bits of carrots, sunflower seeds, bits of lettuce, and, oddly enough, a spoonful of peanut butter. Kathia opened the door of Romeo's cage and hooked the bowl of food onto the side of the cage and Romeo hopped off her shoulder, into the cage. Then Kathia went over and hooked the other bowl of food onto the side of Phoebe's cage, who then launched herself at the bowl. She ate the peanut butter first.  
"All right, now that I've got the squawkers taken care of, let's go and see what we can do about gathering your school supplies, hmmm?" Kathia said with a smile at Lei, who smiled weakly back. "You're going to need clothes for the summer, but we'll start simple."  
"Okay." Lei paused as if wondering whether or not to bring the subject up. "Um, Kathia, how did the people treat you at Hogwarts when you first started going there? It must have been hard for you. I'm sure that they didn't really accept you at first, right?"  
Kathia shook her head. "No, they really didn't take me in, so to speak, for a while. It took them a while to really start talking to me. When I first came to England, the only language I knew was German, and no one else in Hogwarts knew German, so there was that whole language barrier, but then a nice girl offered to teach me English because she knew a little bit of German. In return, I taught her more German. That's how I learned to speak English so well. Oh, but don't worry, dear. I'm sure everyone will want to be friends with you. And if they don't, well, then they aren't worth it."  
  
A half an hour later, Lei and Kathia were inside a shop called Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions in a place that Kathia referred to as Diagon Alley. Lei was standing on a stepping stool and the woman who ran the robe shop had a tape measurer around her waist. After calculating all of Lei's proper measurements, Madam Malkin went back to get her four pairs of robes. The door opened and a bell that hung above the shop tinkled as a boy with pale skin and a pointed face entered the shop, looking bored. After the boy, who looked to be Lei's age, came a man and a woman.  
The man and the boy shared similar looks: both had white-blond hair, bored expressions, and had the air of conceitedness about them. They looked rather wealthy to Lei. The only difference between the man and the boy (presumably father and son) were their colour of eyes. The man had glittering, menacing looking black eyes, whereas the boy had stormy grey eyes. The woman shared her son's eyes, but that was the only similarity between them. She had silky black hair that hung loosely on her shoulders and she didn't seem quite so snobbish, like the other two. She seemed actually a bit jittery.  
The boy spotted Lei, and before she could look away, he had caught her blue eyes with his grey ones. He walked over there and looked up at Lei from her place on the stepping stool. Lei got the impression that he would rather have her down on the ground where he would be taller than she, but she didn't budge from her towering heights.  
"Hello," the boy drawled in a lazy voice. "I expect you're going to Hogwarts this year. You're a bit tall for a first year, though. You have to be new, because I haven't seen you around here." Lei didn't like the way he assumed that she was just going to fall over herself, trying to introduce herself to him. She crossed her arms.  
"I am not a first year," she said indignantly, though she really didn't know where she was or not. Surely she would be put into the sixth year, and not make her go through all of school over again? "And I am new, not that it's any of your business."  
"Is that your mum?" he asked, ignoring her outburst and nodding toward Kathia, who stood, chatting with a witch in the back of the shop. "You two don't look much alike. Does that mean that you look more like your dad?"  
"My parents are dead," she replied shortly. "I don't know who I look like, as a matter of fact. Is that your mum? You two don't look very much alike, either."  
"I'm sorry to hear about your parents," the boy said without sounding sorry at all. "My name is Draco Malfoy. Perhaps you've heard of me."  
"Actually, I don't think I have heard of you. The people of Italy rarely talk of such petty things as who belongs it what family, or if that family is rich while that one is poor. It doesn't matter, and I like to think that we should all put ourselves higher than money."  
Lei jumped down from the stepping stool and looked Draco Malfoy in the eyes, daring him to challenge her further. He stared back, but when she took a step toward him, he faltered and took a step back. She grinned mockingly at him, feeling superior.  
Kathia came back up to the front of the shop with a bag full of Lei's robes in it. She touched Lei's shoulder, questioningly probing her eyes as to the encounter with the blond boy that stood in front of her. Lei simply shrugged, took the bag from Kathia's arms and brushed past Draco Malfoy, making sure that she bashed his shoulder aside.  
"You better watch yourself, whoever you are," Malfoy hissed through clenched teeth. Lei turned back toward him, eyes narrowed.  
"Oh, I think it's the other way around," Lei replied easily. "I'm not afraid of you, or your money. If you think that you're the slightest bit intimidating, you'd be wrong. Watch your step around me, boy. I may be new here, but I learn quickly."  
With that said and done, Lei narrowed her eyes, turned to smile at Kathia, and walked to the back of the store. She gasped when she past Mr. Malfoy as a searing pain struck her forehead. Her fingers went underneath her bangs and fingered the thin scar there. The blond-haired man eyed Lei and a small frown played at his lips. She warily looked back at him, but not for long because her scar felt as if someone had put a fire to it.  
Whenever her scar burned as if it were suddenly set on fire, it usually meant that evil was near. She'd been used to that feeling for a while, but she hadn't expected to feel it so soon in a new country. 


	7. Wild Animals and Stuff

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl  
  
Lei eyed several small kittens in the window of a shop called Wild Animals and Stuff. These innocent little kittens didn't seem like wild animals to her. A white kitten pushed a ball of pink yarn around its cage, and Lei smiled, until the kitten's mouth opened wide and a large, sticky tongue reached out and ate the ball of yarn. Now she could see why these animals were considered wild.  
Kathia came up behind Lei and looked past the girl's shoulder to gaze at the kittens. "Well, aren't those cute?" she commented, watching as a calico kitten pounce onto the smallest kitten there, a tiny black one, who yowled its complaint to the calico. "Wouldn't you just die to have one of those?"  
"Oh yes," Lei replied. "You might not die of natural causes with one of those around, but you'd die to have one." She tried to explain what the white kitten had done to the ball of yarn, but Kathia wasn't listening. She ushered Lei into the shop, much to Lei's horror. Lei was not surprised to find the shop completely empty, except for the shopkeeper.  
"Come on, Lei, shake the lead out of your feet," Kathia scolded light heartedly. "What can be so bad about a few little kittens? They're adorable."  
"Who says they're little?" Lei muttered as a grey-striped kitten grew to the size of a large dog in its cage when Kathia had turned her back. Lei couldn't understand why anyone would want one of these things. She was sure that if Kathia knew what some of them could do, she wouldn't want any, either. But then again, she did have Romeo and Phoebe, and they were pretty wild and crazy. "And from what I've seen, a lot can be wrong with a few 'little' kittens."  
"Oh, quit being ridiculous," the woman chided. She reached into a bin that was filled with bunny rabbits.  
Lei opened her mouth to protest about the bunny, but it was too late. Kathia was already holding a fuzzy white little bunny. Lei eyed it suspiciously. It didn't seem like there was anything wrong with the little creature, however. She was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when the bunny turned its head toward her and bared its fangs at her. Yes, the bunny had fangs, and its eyes were a demonic red.  
_And she says that I'm the ridiculous one_, Lei thought darkly as she stepped past the evil bunny cage. Just then the shopkeeper came over and asked if she needed anything.  
"Actually, yes." Kathia had returned the bunny back to its pen with the other demonic rabbits and was now standing beside Lei. "We're looking for a school animal for her, and I was thinking that one of those kittens would be perfect."  
The girl that stood beside the young woman widened her eyes in alarm. "You can not be serious. Those things aren't normal. For all we know they could be dangerous, too!"  
"Oh, no, those little kitties aren't dangerous," the shopkeeper assured them. "They wouldn't hurt a fly." Somehow Lei couldn't bring herself to believe the man. "They probably could hurt more than a tinny fly, but they won't."  
"See, Lei? Great. We'll take the little black one in there." Kathia pointed to the black runt that was currently being picked on by the white kitten that had eaten the ball of yarn. "I think that one will be perfect."  
After paying for the kitten they left the shop and wandered around for a bit before Kathia remembered that she had forgotten Lei's skirt and shirt to complete her Hogwarts uniform. So, they entered Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions once again in search of a few skirts and shirts. Kathia found the skirts and held quite a few of them against Lei's waist. She finally gave up and asked Lei her size. When Lei had told her, Kathia picked up a skirt that was a size smaller than what she'd been told, found a few others and took them up to the front of the store to be bought.  
"I don't understand," Lei protested following Kathia buying the skirts. "That isn't my size. That's a size lower than what fits me. Why did you purposely buy the wrong size?"  
"Because, Lei, the sizes in Italy and the sizes in England are quite different," Kathia explained patiently. "Besides, these looked like they would fit you better. You needn't worry. With time you'll understand."  
Lei shook her head. She seriously doubted that she would ever get used to these weird things in England. This wasn't her home, Italy was, and in Italy she knew why things were different, or why things happened the way they did there, but now, in England, she didn't know anything. She was confused.  
  
That night, Lei sat on her bed, brushing her silky hair until it shone, just thinking about Italy and her adoptive family. They had all been so nice to her, and didn't treat her like she was adopted at all. She missed Giovanni, her oldest "brother," who had always told her stories when she was little to get her to go to sleep at night. No longer would she hear his comforting voice weaving stories from the oddest places.  
As she lay in bed, she also missed Cinzia (A/N: Pronounced Chin-see-a), her little sister, three years younger than she, who had shared a bedroom with her. Cinzia had never slept in her own bed; she'd insisted on sleeping in Lei's. Lei missed Cinzia's body heat next to her, keeping her warm on the cold nights. She wiped a tear away, thinking how Cinzia used to have a little doll that her mum had made for her when she was very little, whose name was Fiore (A/N: Which means 'flower' in Italian). Cinzia had named Fiore after Lei, whose own name meant, "Flower" in the Hawaiian language.  
Ragazza Poco, Lei's black kitten, jumped into bed with her and curled up on her chest. It was a minor comfort, but one she welcomed. So far, Lei couldn't find anything wrong with Poco, which is what she called her for short. But Lei decided to give it time.  
  
_ A woman with red hair stood over two cribs that held her two crying children. Her emerald green eyes sparkled as she reached down to stroke the twins' cheeks. The little girl had red hair, a shade darker than her mother's while the little boy had unruly black hair that stuck up in some places, just like his father's did, and his eyes mirrored his mum's. The twins' father came into the room to help his wife take care of the crying infants. He picked up the girl, and the woman picked up the boy. They walked back and forth across the floor with them. Finally the babies stopped crying and drifted off to sleep.  
Once placed back in their separate cribs, the boy stayed asleep, but the girl woke once again and began to whimper. Her mother picked her up once again and in a soft voice, as not to wake the boy, she said, "Don't worry, my little one. You're not alone." She carried the child over to see her brother, who was sleeping peacefully in his crib. The child gazed at her older twin brother and stopped crying.  
"See? You're not alone, my little one, my little girl, my little flower. We'll always be here for you, your dad, your brother and I. You will never be alone, little flower," cooed her mother.  
_  
Me: Hi there. In case you couldn't tell, in the end of the chapter, Lei is dreaming/remembering a moment in her early life when Lily and James were still alive. When Lei was a child, she had a type of Separation Anxiety, which is why Lily tried to reassure her daughter that Harry was still in his crib, even though they weren't in the same crib. I'm just trying to help you understand a bit of what's going on, because I thought it might be a little confusing. Well, so now you know. Oh yeah, and Lei's kitten's name, Ragazza Poco, basically means Little Girl. Okay, so now you can review and pretty much forget about this, if you want. Like I said, I'm just trying to help you understand. 


	8. Possession on the Train

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl  
  
A week later, Lei stood nervously in the train station with Kathia. Poco was yowling loudly from her carrier in Lei's hands. This was it, the start of a new life in a new country. Lei couldn't stop fidgeting, but she couldn't help it. So much was going through her brain all at once. Would the kids like her, or hate her, like everyone else did? Would the homework be hard? Would she be able to control her powers (somewhat)? All these thoughts and so many more were racing around in her head, all screaming to be heard over the others.  
"Well, Lei, this it," Kathia was saying, but Lei could barely hear her over all the noise going round in her head and over all the people in the station. A train belched out a cloud of steam, making Lei jump. "Now, all you have to do is walk right into that stone barrier there. Yes, yes, I know, it sounds a little crazy, but don't worry. I know what I'm talking about. Trust me. Now, when you get to the other side, you'll see the Hogwarts Express waiting there. You'd best hurry now, you've only got ten minutes before the train leaves."  
Well, here it goes, Lei thought, took a deep breath—and stopped. She looked up at Kathia. "Well, Kat, I guess this is goodbye."  
Kat chuckled. "Don't make it seem like it's forever, Lei! After all, you will be coming back in June, or sooner, if you'd like, for the holidays." She patted Lei on the back. "See you, kiddo. And don't worry so much."  
Lei swallowed, nodded, and walked right into the barrier, her eyes closed. When she opened them again, she was standing on platform 9 ¾. There was a large scarlet steam engine in front of her that said, in big letters, Hogwarts Express on it. Tightening her grip around Ragazza Poco's cage and her trunk, Lei stepped onto the train.  
"Lei! Hey, Lei, we've saved you a seat in here," Harry called from down the hallway (A/N: Would it be a hallway or an isle on a train? I can't remember). Lei walked toward him and into the compartment.  
Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron were all sitting around the compartment. Hermione had her nose in a book, as usual, Ron and Harry were playing a game of Wizard's Chess and Ginny was watching. Hermione looked up from her book when Lei walked in to greet her.  
"Hi, Lei," she said, smiling and patting the seat next to her to sit on. Lei sat beside her. "How's it going, living with Kathia?"  
"Kat's really nice," Lei replied, shrugging. "I could probably live without Romeo and Phoebe, however. Phoebe's constantly bothering me about something and Romeo always laughs at me. I never knew that I was such a funny person until I met those birds."  
Hermione laughed. "Yeah, they can be a bit annoying at times, but they're actually not that bad, once you get used to them always squawking right in your ear. Kathia really likes birds, you see. Plus she's used to living with those guys."  
Lei looked down on the chess game between Ron and Harry and Hermione went back to her advance Transfiguration book. Harry was losing the game, as usual, even though Ginny was trying to give him pointers (with Ron protesting that Ginny was helping Harry cheat).  
"You really aren't very good at Wizard's Chess, are you, Harry?" Lei said, shaking her head. "You shouldn't have made that move. Ron can put you in check right there."  
As if on cue, Ron chimed in, "Check."  
"Oh, what, you think you could do much better?" Harry snapped irritably. The train took off from the station and Lei smiled down at her twin.  
"Probably," she teased. "My---Giovanni taught me how to play chess, and he was really good. He used to be the best, winning all sorts of trophies from playing games in the park by our house in Italy." She hated how she had to talk about Giovanni in the past tense.  
"That's check, and mate, Harry," Ron said, crossing his arms as his knight bashed Harry's king. (A/N: Bear with me here, I am no chess player, so therefore have no idea how it would work. Sorry.)  
"I told you not to make that move," Lei said, shaking her head in disapproval. "Here, let me have a go with Ron, even though he hates me, so I can show you a thing or two about how to play a proper game of Wizard's Chess."  
Harry and Lei switched places, Harry taking Lei's seat next to Hermione, and Lei taking Harry's spot on the floor. She crossed her legs and sat, looking Ron in the eyes. "Well, Weasley, are you going to play me, or not? Are you afraid that I'll beat you?"  
What Lei thought was going to be an innocent challenge, or a friendly challenge (if you could call Ron and herself friendly) turned into an all out grudge match. Lei was the biggest challenge Ron had ever had. Even Ginny couldn't match skills, and Ron had taught his only sister how to play himself.  
The game started out slow, each of them trying to see what the other one's strategy was, because Wizard's Chess was game all about strategy. Eventually, Ron caught on to the way Lei was trying to figure out his strategy and changed it. But Lei continued with her own strategy and begun pulling ahead of Ron. Ron, fully fed up with Lei, started to make some blind moves, not thinking about what he was doing. Noticing that she was ahead, Lei started getting cocky and moved her knight to take his queen, putting him in check.  
"Check," she said, confident that she was about to win the game. Ron thought about it a moment before moving his queen to take her knight, then moved his queen across the board and took her own queen.  
"Check mate," he said, grinning spitefully at her. "I'll give it to you, though, you have some wicked chess skills. Even though mine are better."  
Lei silently counted to ten to hide her anger, and then smiled, holding out her hand to him. He took it, looking at her suspiciously, and shook. "Good game, Weasley. I'm looking forward to a rematch someday, when I'm better. Next time, I'll win."  
Lei got up and sat in the seat across from Harry, and Ron sat next to Ginny. The train passed under a tunnel, and all the lights in the train suddenly went out. When they came back on, outside it was pouring down rain and Lei was on the floor. Not sure of what to do, Ginny went over and kind of poked the girl.  
Lei stood, but she didn't look...normal. Her red hair was flying in every direction, but there was no wind (as there were inside the train and the windows were closed) and when she looked up at the others, her eyes were rolled up in the back of her head, so she looked as if she had pure white eyes. She looked rather creepy.  
"Um, Lei?" Harry said, gulping at the drastic and terrifying new changes in his sister. "Are you okay?"  
When she answered, the voice that came from her throat didn't belong to her. It was deep and guttural. "Did you actually think that you could hide her from me?" the voice said coldly, and those eerie white eyes fixed on him. "Did you think that I wouldn't notice that she disappeared from the home that I had destroyed? You foolish boy! She holds great power, I can sense it in her all the time, and one day I will harness all of that power for myself! And then I will kill you and everyone else who tries to stop me from taking my rightful spot as ruler of the wizarding world! And then I will kill all the Muggles so we can rid ourselves of them!"  
A high, cold laughter filled the compartment before the lights went out once again. They all heard a thump, and when the lights flashed back on, Lei was on the floor again. She sat up again, but this time, instead of white eyes, her normal piercing blue eyes were back, and she glanced around the room.  
"What happened?" she asked, her voice back to normal.  
"I knew she wasn't right in the head!" Ron said, pointing his finger at Lei while the others stared at her in astonishment. 


	9. The Sorting Hat Gets Confused

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl  
  
"No, I'm serious. What happened?" Lei stared at the shocked faces of Hermione, Ron, Ginny and her own twin, Harry. "Please tell me. I haven't got a clue what's going on, and I think I ought to know, don't you?"  
"You were being possessed, Lei," Hermione said matter-of-factly. Everyone turned to look at her. "I've been reading about possession. It's when one wizard uses another to relay a message to a third party, usually. I would say that Voldemort---Ron, Ginny, honestly it's just a name---was talking to Harry through Lei."  
"So that means that You-Know-Who knows that Lei is here, in England, and not in Italy?" Ginny asked nervously. "And He knows that Lei is going to Hogwarts, with Harry, which means---"  
"Which means that Voldemort will try and attack Hogwarts again this year, but with more force, because both Harry and Lei will be there," Hermione finished. She nodded her head. "Precisely. That means that we're going to have to try and be ready for any attack that might happen."  
Lei stared at the floor of the compartment and didn't say anything for the remainder of the train ride.  
  
Lei stood with all the first years in the entrance hall of the Hogwarts castle. She was wringing her hands nervously, trying desperately to calm herself down. Finally the doors to the Great Hall opened and a witch with her silver hair pulled tightly up into a bun ushered them all inside, glancing at Lei for a second look. Lei swallowed and tried not to look too conspicuous  
Inside the Hall, she found it a little harder to not be seen. Unfortunately, Lei was the tallest one in the group of new students to Hogwarts, which caused most everybody to stare at her, making her very uncomfortable. She wished that they would stop whispering like that and turn their eyes elsewhere. She hated it when everyone made her the center of attention; she'd much rather be within a small circle of friends than have a bunch of people that she didn't know staring at her.  
A very old looking hat on a stool started to sing a song about how friendship was important in dark times, and how one must stick close to those who one trusts, but be careful, because some people did not deserve their trust. Then, the witch with her hair in the bun started calling out names to sit on the stool and put on the old hat. After a while, the hat would then shout out a name, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, or Gryffindor.  
Quite a few names after the first name had been called, the witch called out, "Potter, Lei," and then everyone's eyes were truly on Lei. She timidly walked up to the stool, trying without much success to hide her red cheeks with her red hair, and sat down. The hat dropped down onto her head, falling over much of her petite face. The last thing she saw before the hat had covered up her eyes was everyone pushing others to try and get a better view of her face.  
"Nervous, eh?" said a voice into Lei's ear. She jumped. "I can feel the power that you radiate, my dear. You have a healthy mind, with much knowledge. You emit the sense of loneliness, but also bravery. You are not afraid to speak your mind, and can cause quite a bit of trouble, you can. You are willing to do anything to keep those you love safe. Hmmm, this is a difficult choice. Perhaps you would do well in RAVEN---"  
The hat had shouted the first part of the Ravenclaw house, but then stopped, seemed to reconsider its thoughts, and tried again. "HUFFLE---" Again the hat stopped. "No, no, that won't do, now will it?" it said to Lei. "Maybe I shall place you in SLYTH---No, can't put you in there either. Well...I know where to put you! GRYFFINDOR!"  
Lei took the hat off her head again, smoothed her hair down, and looked around, confused. Ginny waved her hand in the hair, catching Lei's attention, and Lei walked over there, trying to make her hands stop shaking. Harry patted the seat beside him and Lei sat down. She hadn't realized that people weren't clapping, like they'd done for the others who had gotten sorted into their proper houses, until a tall old man stood up from the head table and clapped. A few of the teachers followed, and then a few of the students followed, until finally most of the Hall was clapping. One boy at the Gryffindor table wasn't clapping, but just staring into the entrance hall.  
"What is it, Neville?" Hermione asked turning to see what Neville was staring at.  
"Look!" He pointed with his finger, and soon all the Gryffindors were looking into the entrance hall. There, lying on the floor instead of floating was a ghost. It was frozen solid. Lei visibly paled and turned away.  
"Oops," she murmured, and everyone turned to look at her, making her even more uncomfortable. She looked down at the table, trying to pretend like she didn't notice them.  
"What do you mean, oops?" Ron asked.  
Lei swallowed. "I couldn't help it. I just---never mind." She looked up to find that still everyone's eyes were on her. "When I get startled, um, things sort of get frozen solid," she said quietly. "It's one of those powers that I was telling you about earlier."  
"Are you related to Harry?" Parvati asked Lei.  
Lei nervously cast a look towards Harry, who shrugged. "Yes. I am, um, Harry's twin sister, Lei Potter. I came here from Italy, after my adoptive family was murdered by dark wizards."  
"Do you have a scar?" Seamus Finnigan asked Lei, leaning across the table and staring intently at her bangs as if he stared at them long enough, he would see through them. "You know, like Harry's got a scar, so do you?"  
"Um, yes, I have a scar." Lei shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Now everyone's eyes were on her forehead. She lifted her bangs from her head, and everyone leaned forward to get a look at her forehead. Right in the middle of her forehead was a lightning bolt that looked exactly like Harry's. Everyone gaped at her until Lei finally flattened her bangs back to cover the scar.  
"Wicked," Dean breathed. "What other powers do you have?"  
"I'd rather not talk about them," she said hastily, and begun eating.  
"Oh, come on," Seamus said, and Lei looked around to see some very eager looking pairs of eyes focused on her. "Please tell us. I bet they're fascinating."  
"No, they aren't fascinating," Lei snapped, finally loosing her patience. "These powers of mine is what got me into this mess in the first place. They are what attracted Voldemort to me." She continued, ignoring all the shudders that passed through the Gryffindors, "They are what caused my whole entire family to be murdered before my eyes. Trust me when I say these powers of mine are much more trouble than they are worth."  
  
Me: Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but my computer had a virus, that just happened to delete almost our whole hard drive, which included most of my chapters, so I had to rewrite this whole entire chapter. Ok, I'm done now. 


	10. The Dementors Attack: Part I

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl Chapter: The Dementors Attack: Part I  
  
Lei refused to answer any more questions for the time being. Harry didn't blame her in the least; he knew how it felt to be constantly prodded for information that you didn't really want everyone to know. Even though she wouldn't answer them, many Gryffindors went on asking her questions like, "Have you ever met You-Know-Who?" and "Have you always known that Harry was your twin?" and "Do you remember anything about your parents?" The question that Lavender kept asking was, "What was Italy like?"  
Harry had some questions to ask her, too, but he figured that they could wait, since Lei wasn't looking especially cheerful at the moment with everyone bombarding her with inquiries. Most of the boys wanted to know what kind of powers she had, or had she ever played a game of Quidditch?  
Absently Lei rubbed her forehead, where her scar was starting to tingle slightly. She never told anyone when her scar hurt because that would mean that they would start fussing over her and she disliked being the center of attention, like she was at the moment. She pushed the thought about her scar away to think about more important matters, such as that strange hat. It seemed like it couldn't make up its mind about her at all, and she wanted to know why it had such a difficult time placing her.  
"Surely your powers are fantastic," an excited little second year said to Lei, staring at her through wide blue eyes. "They must be, because Harry's are pretty awesome, too," he pressed when he received no answer from Lei. Harry rolled his eyes; he knew that somehow he was going be dragged into this mess as well, he always was. He, much like Lei, hated to be the subject of everyone's conversations.  
"If you like my powers so much, why don't you all just take them!" Lei snapped irritably. The small tingling in her scar was growing into a sharp ache. The pain in her head---along with everyone insisting that she was some sort of interesting specimen---was making her feel grumpy. She knew that the students had a right to be curious, and she knew that she shouldn't be acting so cross with them for being fascinated, but it was starting to get on her nerves.  
She looked out a window, and saw nothing but miles of grass, several trees and a large hut for a moment, but then it felt as if everything was zooming past her, but she wasn't moving. Soon Lei could no longer see her fellow classmates, but she could see into a dark forest. After blinking several times, her pupils contracted to let in every bit of light available. She saw no less than five or six floating black figures hovering all around her, except they were floating past her, as if they hadn't seen her at all.  
Lei had had this type of experience several times in Italy, in which she would be staring absently at a wall or out a window, when all of a sudden, she wouldn't be seeing the wall or outside the window at all, but somewhere far off. She couldn't really explain how it happened, it just sort of did. She supposed that it was just another one of her stupid powers that just got her into trouble.  
Just at that moment, the pain in her head intensified as if someone had applied a white-hot metal bar to her head, right where her scar was. She cried out, and the forest scene in front of her disappeared and she was back at Hogwarts. Only instead of being on her seat at the dinner table, she was sitting on the floor, with everyone in the Great Hall staring down at her. She was about to get up and brush herself off when the metal bar pressed in on her forehead again, and again she cried out.  
"Has she gone mad?" someone asked. Lei looked up to see who asked it, but that only made the pain worse. Bright white lights danced in front of her eyes. She blinked a few times, but that didn't help either. All blinking did was make her dizzy.  
"Lei, what in the world has gotten in to you?" Harry asked, looking down worriedly at his sister. She wouldn't look up at him, though. She found that staring at the ground made the pain lessen slightly.  
A sudden image of those towering black creatures in the forest appeared in Lei's mind, and again the pain got worse, but this time she only gasped. She realized that those things were headed right for Hogwarts, and whatever they were they were not good. Her scar always hurt when she was near evil.  
"Lei, what's wrong?" Lei looked up into those bright green eyes, and she felt safe, like Harry would know what to do with those hooded black creatures.  
That's when she finally realized what they were. Those things were dementors, the things that guarded the prison in England. Lei had read about them in a book once, how they sucked the souls out of people and left them with no happy memories and forced people to relive their worst memories. But why were they coming here?  
"They're coming," she finally managed to half-whisper, half-gasp. "They're coming here, but I don't know why. They're getting closer and closer to the castle by the moment." She furrowed her eyebrows in thought. Why wasn't Harry feeling them too? Didn't his scar hurt? "Can't you feel them coming, Harry?"  
"Can't I feel who, Lei? Who's coming here?"  
"Doesn't your scar hurt?" she cried desperately. "Don't you feel them getting closer? Doesn't anyone feel it? They're coming!"  
"Lei, what are you---?" But then he did feel something. A sudden and brief pain hit Harry's forehead. It felt like his head were about to burst open, but then it was gone and he felt fine again. "Lei, you have to tell me. Who is coming to the castle? Who do you feel coming?"  
"It's the---"Lei's hands flew up to her scar and she screamed, tears coursing down her cheeks as the pain grew in her head to an unbearably high level.  
The torches on the walls flickered and then went out completely. Outside the sun seemed to have vanished, and suddenly, the Great Hall was extremely cold. Harry breathed out and found that he could see his breath suspended in the air in front of him for a moment before it disappeared.  
Now he knew what Lei meant, what she had felt coming toward the castle. She had felt the dementors coming, and obviously knew they were bad. But why had they made her scar hurt? They'd never made Harry's scar hurt, except that brief moment when Lei demanded if he could feel them.  
He didn't have much time to ponder such things, however, as just then the doors to the Great Hall opened and six dementors glided in...  
Author's Note: Hi again! I know, I know, it's about time that I've updated, right? Well, my computer contracted three viruses and decided to stop working on me for a while now, and it's impossible to post chapters when you can't even turn your computer on, now isn't it? I hope you liked the chapter. Please, please, please review! Now, on with the next chapter you go, since I'm posting them together. ((( 


	11. The Dementors Attack: Part II

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl Chapter: The Dementors Attack: Part II  
  
Light! Lei thought desperately. She'd read in the book about dementors that light repelled them, or something to that effect. I need a light.  
"Light!" she said feebly, and clapped her hands together. A dim light flashed through the room and then disappeared. The dementors were stunned, but only for a moment. They continued to glide toward the students, sucking in cold air as they came. "Light!" she said again, this time a little louder, and clapped her hands again. Another light, slightly brighter this time flashed, then faded away. She couldn't produce a bright enough light to make the dementors go away.  
Harry reached for his wand with shaking fingers. He had to stop the dementors from taking the souls from anyone in the Great Hall. No one deserved to be a soulless vegetable. He heard Lei saying, "Light!" over and over again, and a light kept shining through the Hall, but it didn't last very long. But it was distracting the dementors away from everyone else.  
All six of the dementors were now gliding toward the source of the flashes of light. Lei's head throbbed even harder as the dementors got closer and closer to her. Harry realized that they were heading right at her, probably to kiss her, which would take her soul out of her body.  
"Expecto Patronum!" he said, pointing his wand toward the general direction of the dementors and Lei. A small wisp of silver came out of the tip of Harry's wand. He tried thinking quickly of a happy thought. Winning his first Quidditch match came into his mind, and he cried, "Expecto Patronum!" Another silver strand came out of his wand, but nothing more.  
"Light!" cried Lei, and clapped her hands together loudly. The light that appeared was still not very bright but it kept the Great Hall illuminated for a bit longer than before. In the several seconds that she had created light, Lei could see all six of the towering figures coming straight at her. She began to hear a cold, high-pitched laughter in her ears, but she refused to give up yet.  
She tried to remember the general direction of where one of the torches was on the wall. Glancing over there, she squinted her eyes, picturing the torch in her mind and concentrating on that picture. Suddenly the torch on the wall burst into flame, only to be put out again by the dementors.  
"Lei stop making light!" Harry whispered at the ground where he could hear Lei sniffling. "You're only making it all the more easier for them to find you!" He guessed that they didn't have dementors in Italy, since Lei didn't know what to do about them.  
He tried thinking of another happy thought, but, like Lei, Harry started to hear the high-pitched laughter of Voldemort when he had killed Lily and James. He thought of seeing his parents in the Mirror of Erised and tried again. "Expecto Patronum!" A stronger strand of silver came out of his wand, but nothing more.  
Lei reached up and took Harry's hand and held it tightly. Harry cursed softly when he dropped his wand because he was shaking so hard. Lei reached out to grab it for him, but when she extended her left hand (her right hand was holding Harry's left hand), it felt as if she had stuck her hand in something extremely cold, like a bucket of ice water. She realized with a start that she had grabbed one of the dementors' black robes instead of Harry's wand. She hurriedly let go of the robe and fumbled for Harry's wand.  
Just as her hands closed around the thin wooden wand, Lei's wrist was grabbed by something scabby, bony and cold. Her eyes shot to her left arm, where a discolored hand had a tight grip round her wrist. She screamed and tried to pull her hand free, but the dementor's grip only tightened in response.  
High-pitched laughter filled Lei's ears.  
  
Little Lei Potter clung tightly to her mother as Lily began crying and begging for the man in front of her not to kill Harry and Lei. The sounds of the twins' dad's struggles had stopped a minute or two before. Lei didn't understand what was going on. The man had a wooden thing in his hand, which he was pointing at Lily. She seemed to be afraid of this wooden thing, even though she had one herself. Lei had seen it before.  
The man laughed when Lily began to beg. "You couldn't have bothered begging before, when I offered to let you join my allegiance, Lily Potter," he said cruelly. Lei didn't like the sound of his cold voice. She looked to her twin. Harry looked back, emerald green eyes wide, because he knew that something bad was happening, though he didn't know exactly what that was.  
"Please don't kill Lei or Harry," Lily sobbed. "Don't kill Harry, not Harry and not Lei. Take me instead, just not them!"  
The man laughed again and pointed the wooden thing over Lily's heart. Lily whispered into her children's ears, "I love you both, my wonderful darlings. Be safe."  
"AVADA KADAVRA!" the man shouted, and there was a bright green flash of light. Lily screamed one last time and then fell to the floor, bringing Harry and Lei with her.  
  
Harry realized that there was something wrong with Lei and pried his wand from her fingers. He had to think happy thoughts, even though he could now hear the voice of his mother ringing through his ears not to kill him.  
  
Lei fell to the ground when the explosion hit the house. Cinzia began to cry, and Lei saw that her little sister's head was bleeding. Giovanni was huddling over Cinzia and motioning for Lei to come over there with them. Lei's adoptive mum hurried over to where her children sat huddled in the corner, grabbing Lei along the way. Lei looked around wildly, trying to find the wizard that had attacked their Italian home.  
She found him almost instantly. He smiled wickedly at her, and she swallowed, knowing that she and her family probably wouldn't make it out of what was left of the house alive. She closed her eyes, trying to forget that she'd just witnessed as the same wizard that now stood in front of her murdered her papá and her older sister in the kitchen.  
"Avada Kadavra!" shouted the man in a foreign accent. Bright green light filled the room. Lei shouted one word at the same time the wizard shouted the killing curse, but Lei's word was lost in the noise of the house collapsing all around her.  
When she opened her eyes again, Giovanni and her adoptive mum were lying face down, dead. Cinzia lay on her back; her pale grey eyes were wide open as if she were staring at the sky above her. Her whole family was dead now, and she was an orphan yet again.  
  
Lei's hand had gone limp in Harry's, but he still held on to it. He wondered distantly which memories Lei was being forced to relive. Whatever ones they were, they were so terrible it made her pass out, like Harry had on several occasions with the dementors.  
That's it, he thought, Lei. I was happy when I first saw her, because I knew that she really was my sister.  
Still clinging onto Lei's hand, he shouted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver stag shot out of Harry's wand and went for the closest dementor, the one that had a hold of Lei's other arm. The stag charged at it and the creature was forced to let go of Lei as it went flying up into the air, crashing into the dementor behind it.  
"Go for those ones over there!" Harry commanded the stag. The stag charged again at a group of dementors, and soon they were over by the doors like their other companions by the door, and there was only one dementor left.  
Without being told to the stag charged at the last dementor, pushing it over to the doors to the Great Hall. The silver stag pawed the ground, getting ready to shove them out of the doors, but they glided out on their own.  
When the torches were lit again and the Hall filled with light, both Lei and Harry were on the floor, hand in hand and unconscious.  
Author's Note: Ciao persona! (Hi peoples, basically, I think.) I would like to apologize for my misuse of the Italian language, as one of my reviewers said. I didn't mean to make Lei's cat's name "A little bit of girl" at all (which was what this reviewer said that Ragazza Poco meant), but I am only just learning Italian, so I probably make a lot of mistakes, but hopefully I'll get better! I'd like to thank this review for telling me about my mistake, so I have decided to change the little kitty's name to Piccola, which means small, okay? So now when you see Piccola, you'll know what I mean. Okay, I'm done now...really, I am. Now, onto the next chapter! ((( 


	12. The Italian Vampire Kitten

Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl Chapter: The Italian Vampire Kitten  
  
Lei came round, opening her eyes a little bit, then shutting them tight as the light from the torches burned brightly. Seeing all that light hurt her eyes after being in the dark for so long. She suddenly remembered the dementors and bolted into a sitting position. Her eyes darted round the Great Hall and she realized that the dementors were gone. Next to her Harry was coming around too.  
"Are they gone?" Harry asked.  
"Yeah," Lei answered. "They're gone, for now at least." Her scar didn't hurt anymore, but she did have a headache.  
"That was amazing, Harry!" Colin Creevy said loudly, rushing over to Harry and Lei. He snapped a picture of Harry. Harry groaned as little lights danced before his eyes. "That was the best Patronus charm I've ever seen!"  
"Thanks, Colin," Harry answered, rolling over onto his side. "I guess."  
Someone shoved a piece of chocolate into Lei's hand. She looked up to see a plump witch standing beside her, holding an enormous basket full of chocolate chunks. "Eat up, dear," the witch said kindly. "It'll help." She winked at Lei before handing Harry a chunk of chocolate as large as Lei's, which seemed to be twice a large as the rest of the pieces of chocolate.  
"Madam Pomfrey will have my head if I don't make you eat these," the witch added quietly, nodding toward another witch across the room, holding another basket of chocolate. She was dressed in a white uniform.  
Harry took a bite of his chocolate, knowing that it usually helped. "Eat up, Lei," he said round his mouthful of chocolate when he noticed that his twin wasn't eating her piece. "It really does help. Trust me."  
Lei shrugged and bit off a small chunk of chocolate. What could it hurt? It was only chocolate, after all, and even though Lei didn't really fancy chocolate, it wasn't horrible tasting. Her headache subsided after a few more bites of chocolate, and by the time that she had finished the whole chunk, she was feeling much better.  
  
That night as Lei was getting ready for bed, Piccola came in the dormitory and jumped onto Lei's bed, staring at Lei through glittering green eyes. Lei absently patted the top of her little kitten's head before pulling on her pajamas and climbing into bed. From the bed beside her, Hermione's bed, Crookshanks started hissing at Piccola.  
Hermione came out from the bathroom at that moment and hurried over to her hissing cat. "What has gotten into you, Crookshanks?" she asked her cat, scratching him behind his orange ears. He wouldn't take his glowing eyes (A/N: Yes, eyes, as in plural. I believe I made a mistake in a previous chapter by saying that Crookshanks only had one eye, but I was confused. Thanks Hermione Elizabeth Granger for pointing this mistake out to me) off of the tiny black kitten.  
Lei glanced down at Piccola. Her black kitten stared back at her, unblinkingly. "D'you think that maybe Piccola is evil then?" she asked Hermione, who looked back at her, startled by the question.  
"Why on earth would you think that about Piccola?" Hermione asked Lei.  
"Well, you said that back in your third year here Crookshanks wouldn't leave Ron's former rat alone. And then you came to find out that was because he knew that the rat was evil. Now Crookshanks is hissing at Piccola, and I was wondering if maybe that meant that she was evil."  
"But what would make your kitten evil in the first place?"  
"Kat bought her for me in a weird place, where all the animals had something wrong with them," Lei answered slowly. "But so far I haven't been able to find out what's wrong with Piccola."  
Hermione shrugged. "I wouldn't know if your kitten is evil. She doesn't seem like she is, but then again, neither did Ron's rat."  
Lei shrugged too and looked back down at Piccola. The black kitten was now walking around Lei's bed and trying to find a comfortable place to sleep, kneading Lei's duvet with her tiny claws.  
  
Lei awoke in the middle of the night because there was something on her chest and breathing right her in face. Piccola's green eyes shone brightly, even in the dark dormitory, down at Lei from her place on her mistress' chest. Lei raised her eyebrow at her kitchen and tried to roll onto her side. Piccola dug her nails into Lei's chest so that she was forced to stay in one place.  
"You rotten little thing," Lei whispered to her kitten in Italian. (A/N: Sorry, but I'm only learning how to congregate verbs in Italian, so I don't know how I would say that sentence in Italian, which is just as well for those reviewers who don't understand Italian.)  
Piccola bared her white teeth at Lei in what seemed like a mischievous grin. But instead of having normal sized teeth for a kitten her size, Piccola had four long fangs: two were on the bottom of her mouth, and the other two were on the top. When Lei looked back at Piccola's face, she noticed that her eyes were red, not green as they had been before.  
Lei gave an alarmed cry and attempted to dislodge the vampire kitten from her chest. All she succeeded in doing was making Piccola dig her claws in deeper. Lavender, Parvati and Hermione were stirring from their sleep and rubbing their eyes, trying to figure out what Lei was yelling about.  
"Off!" Lei shouted at her kitten. "Get off me! For Heaven's sake Piccola, GET OFF ME!" In one last attempt to get the kitten off, Lei cried, "Tu scendi!" (A/N: I believe that is "You get off," or something like that, congregated from the verb scendere, meaning to get off.)  
At once Piccola jumped off of her mistress and onto the floor, where she landed on her feet with a soft thud.  
"What was that---?" began Hermione, but at that moment, Crookshanks jumped off the bed and tried to pounce on Piccola, but the little kitten had raced out the door before Crookshanks had hit the carpet. Crookshanks went running after Piccola, who was mewing loudly in protest of being chased.  
  
The next morning at breakfast Lei, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati all sleepily ate their food, having lost a large part of their night's sleep chasing after Piccola and Crookshanks. Piccola was now curled up in Lei's lap, safe from her orange enemy for the time being. Lei was sneaking her vampire kitten some eggs underneath the table, since Lei didn't eat eggs.  
"Here Lei, have some sausages," Harry said, passing Lei the plate of sausages. "They're really good. You should try them."  
"I don't eat meat," said Lei, shaking her head at the plate of cooked sausages. "But thanks for offering. I'm sure they're delicious, to people who eat meat."  
Hermione took a sausage from the plate that Harry was offering to her and held it out to Piccola, her way of trying to make amends with the kitten for Crookshanks chasing her all over the common room the night before. "Here Piccola, have a sausage," she said, holding the sausage out to the kitten.  
"Don't get your hand too close to her," Lei warned Hermione. "She might bite. And I don't think she understands English, because ever since I got her I've spoken to her in Italian, and last night she wouldn't get off when I told her to in English, but she would when I told her to in Italian."  
"Oh." Piccola snatched the sausage from Hermione's hand and gobbled it down, then nudged her head against her hand and purred loudly, obviously forgiving Hermione for her cat's behavior.  
"Hey Ron, which class do we have first today?" asked Harry, buttering a piece of toast and taking a bite.  
Ron cast an oddly sympathetic glance at Lei before answering disdainfully, "Potions."  
Author's Note: Hmmm...I wonder what should happen in Potions class with Snape? Have any suggestions for me? Like something that you want to happen in Potions? Just review and tell me, and I'll try and use it in the next chapter. Bye! 


	13. Snape the Snake

Harry's Twin Chapter: Snape the Snake

"What?" Lei asked Ron. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She, Harry, Hermione and the aforementioned redhead were all making their way to the dungeons after breakfast. Ron and Harry kept shooting Lei these weird looks, though Lei didn't notice Harry as much as she did Ron; after all, Ron seemed to basically hate her.

Ron shrugged and said, "I just feel kind of sorry for you."

Lei raised an eyebrow. "But why? Why do you feel sorry for me? I loathe being pitied."

"It's just that---Well, Professor Snape doesn't like any of the Gryffindors," Hermione said. "And he definitely---well, he pretty much hates Harry because of his---your---dad. So the chances of him liking you aren't in your favour, I'm afraid."

"Dad? What did he do?"

"Snape is convinced that our dad tried to kill him back when they were in school," Harry told his twin. "It's a bit confusing, but that's not what's important here. What's important is that you shouldn't be looking forward to your first class here anymore, not now that it's with Snape."

"He can't be that bad, can he?" Lei inquired nervously. "I mean, surely he isn't that mean? Right?"

"He isn't _that_ terrible," Hermione said quietly.

"Hermione!" both Ron and Harry protested loudly. Harry continued, "He _is_ that terrible, Lei, trust me on this one. Try not to make eye contact with him, and never speak to him unless---"

The bell rang then, but not the way it usually did. It clanged for about two seconds, and then there was silence. Confused, everyone looked up at the bell and---upon seeing it frozen---all the Gryffindors looked at Lei, who quickly mumbled an apology.

All the students hurried into the classroom and took their seats. A man with greasy black hair and a long, crooked nose came into the room, slamming the door behind him so that several students jumped, causing the whole room to fall silent.

"Today we will be making the Colour Changing potion," Snape said, taking out his wand and waving it at the blackboard. Spiky scrawl appeared on the board, instructing the students on what to do to make the potion. "Get to work."

Lei raised her hand. "Um, Professor, I---"

"I don't believe I called on you, Miss...I'm sorry, help me out here," said Snape irritably.

"Lei. My name is Lei Potter, and I---"

"_Another_ Potter?" asked Snape incredulously.

"Yes, I'm Harry's---"

"I didn't call on you Potter," Snape interrupted loudly. "Now get to work on your potion!"

"But, Professor, I don't know much about potions---"Lei began.

"Then you have more in common with your brother than you thought." Harry was about to protest to this statement, but Hermione grabbed his robe and pulled him back into his seat. "Now get to work!"

Lei decided against speaking up about how little she knew about potions, and looked around as her peers started pulling out different ingredients. Not really knowing what she was doing, Lei started grabbing her own variety of potions and putting them in her cauldron, and before she knew it, it was nearly the end of class, and Snape began calling people up to test their potions.

When it was Lei's turn, she started to get really nervous. Her hands began to sweat, and she nearly dropped her vile with her potion in it. Someone snickered, and Lei wanted to scream at him or her, but instead she walked up to the front of the classroom.

"Now, Miss Potter, let's see what you managed to make," Snape said nastily. Lei took a deep breath, trying to calm her red-hot temper. She took a few more calming breaths, making sure she took her time. "Drink the potion, Potter!"

The glass vile slipped from Lei's fingertips, and she dived to catch it before it hit the floor, but she was too late. A large cloud of dark green smoke erupted from the broken glass, and Lei scrambled to her feet quickly.

"Potter, what did you---?" Snape started to roar. There was a loud pop as soon as the potion's master inhaled some of the dark smoke, and several people gasped. When the smoke died away, Snape was gone, and in his place was a particularly fat garter snake.

Lei laughed nervously. "Oops," she said guiltily, bending down and scooping the snake into her arms before setting it on Snape's desk. "Sorry about that, Professor."

"You'll be in detention for the rest of your God given life for this, Potter!" screamed the snake, making Lei jump several inches away. "See if you aren't, you horrible little---"

"I said I was sorry!" Lei protested.

"But that doesn't make it better, does it?" demanded Snape the Snake. "Saying you're sorry doesn't turn me back! Get out of here!"

"But I didn't mean to do it in the first place! I tried to tell you that I didn't know what I was doing, but did you listen? No!" Her temper was getting the best of her. She tried counting to ten. _Uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove---_

"FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR!" roared Snape. "GET OUT OF MY DUNGEONS, POTTER, BEFORE I TAKE ANY MORE POINTS AWAY! JUST GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

"You're being unfair!" cried Lei. "Please, I think I might know how to get you back to normal, although with that huge nose of yours, I don't know why you'd want to be normal again---"

"POTTER! GET OUT! YOU ARE OFFICIALLY BANNED FROM EVER SETTING FOOT IN THE DUNGEONS OR IN MY CLASSROOM AGAIN!"

"FINE!" Her once blue eyes blazed a terrifying shade of red. "I'M GOING! I DON'T WANT TO COME BACK HERE ANYWAY, NOT WITH YOU TEACHING THIS CLASS! IF I EVER SEE YOUR UNBEARABLY UGLY FACE AGAIN, IT'LL BE TOO SOON!"

Everyone watched in awe---and in horror---as Lei stormed out of the room, her red hair literally replaced by white-hot fire.

Me: Mwahahahahahaha. Proof that you need to stay on a redhead's good side, especially a redhead with powers like Lei's, eh? I'd like to thank Moonsong k'Shallia for giving me the idea of turning Snape into a garter snake. Thanks, Ala!


	14. Mirashar Tanzi

The Forgotten Child by Gemzgurl

It wasn't fair the way Snape had jus shoved her out of class like that. But in a way, Lei was rather happy that she never had to set foot in his classroom again, the slimy git. She was fuming just _thinking_ about that horrible, evil little man. She shuddered in anger. Both Ron and Harry warned her about him, however. At least they had bothered to tell her that he was an evil man, she though.

Lei took a few calming breaths, letting them out slowly, before standing up and heading back into the castle. She stood in the entrance hall for a few minutes for deciding to head for the library. But before she could even get there, Argus Filch came slinking out from behind a corner, Mrs. Norris hot on his heels. Lei sighed; just what she needed after having that…argument with Snape.

"Only her first day here and already Miss Potter is ditching class," snarled Filch meanly. "I believe you're supposed to be in Potions, am I right, Potter?"

"Yes, but—"

"No buts, missy. It's back to the dungeons with you. Get going." He pointed toward the stairs, but Lei didn't budge. "Now Potter, wouldn't want to get detention with Professor Snape, now would you? Didn't think so, so get moving!"

This was getting ridiculous. No one in this castle bothered to listen to her. What was going on with these people? She hadn't been able to finish hardly more than two sentences the entire day so far. She shook her head but did was she was told—there was no use in arguing if no one was going to listen to her, now was there? Besides, she certainly didn't want to get detention with Snape, but somehow she doubted Snape would want to spend any more time with her than was necessary.

Filch barely tapped the door to the potions classroom before he opened it and marched her inside. As soon as she entered, the room went dead silent. Filch bare even noticed the sudden quiet; he went straight to Snape, who was back to his normal, ugly face, and revealed Lei to him as if he had just found Snape's most prized possession.

"What is _she _going here?" he snarled, face immediately turning puce.

"I found her standing in the entrance hall," Filch said proudly, and Lei rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, interested to hear what Snape had to say to this.

"She was ordered to stay out of my dungeons!" Snape hollered.

"And I gladly _would _have, too, if it hadn't been for _him_!" Lei said heatedly. "It's not like I actually want to be in here, but I didn't want detention with you, either."

"I didn't ask you, Potter!"

"You know, I get this distinct feeling that I'm not the only one who doesn't like you," she said looking right at Snape. When Snape opened his mouth immediately after her comment, she quickly cut him off, not wanting to hear what he had to say to her at the moment, or ever for that matter. "Don't even attempt to mess with me right now, I'm _really _not in the mood for listening to every single nasty word out of your filthy, putrid mouth, so just shut it, will you?"

A collective gasp went around the room while Snape just stood there and gaped at Lei. Filch had his head cocked to one side, sure he had never heard a student talk to Snape like that before. This new student from Italy certainly had some guts. _Must have gotten that bit from her dad,_ he thought, remembering the way James Potter had treated the Potions master back then.

Just at that moment the bell rang, signaling the end of class, but Lei refused to back down from her stare-fest with Snape. After gathering her things up into her book bag, Hermione came to the front of the classroom and touched Lei's shoulder gently.

"Come on, Lei. The boys say you have Divinations net, and it's a long walk from here to the north tower," she said softly, careful not to make eye contact with either Lei or Snape.

The redhead finally backed off, but not without sticking out her out at the Potions master and glaring thoroughly at Filch for bringing her into this situation in the firs place. Then she grabbed her book bag (which she was embarrassed to admit that she had forgotten it the first time she left the classroom) and left once again, this time with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Hermione hadn't been kidding when she'd told Lei that it was a long walk to the north tower from the dungeons. They climbed what seemed like a hundred stairs when Hermione left them at the Ancient Runes classroom, but much to Lei's disappointment, they didn't stop until they'd reached the very top of the castle.

"Why do they have make classrooms all the way up here?" she complained, sitting down against the wall and trying to even her breath back to normal.

"I think they do it to make us get some exercise, personally,' said Seamus, panting his over to them with Dean Thomas right behind him. "Say, have you heard about Trelawney?"

"Please tell me that she got sacked after what happened with Umbridge last year," Ron said hopefully, and Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil both glared at him. He ignored them both and looked to Seamus.

"Actually, yeah." Dean nodded his head enthusiastically, also ignoring the girls' dirty looks. "I can't wait to see who've gotten now. I hope the new professor's nice."

"I hope he or she isn't as crazy as Trelawney was," Ron said, rolling his eyes and receiving more nasty looks from Parvati and Lavender. "It would be nice if they weren't frauds, too, but…" He shrugged and grinned, causing the others to laugh.

"I hope the room doesn't smell like incense like it did all those other years," said Harry, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "If I have to smell that nasty stuff one more time, I'll—"

Before he could finish his sentence though, the silver ladder fell from the ceiling and a round face appeared there. Lei recognized the face as the silver haired witch from the Great Hall, though today that silver hair was pulled out of her face by an elastic band. "Come on all of you now so we can get started, yes?"

Everyone climbed up the stairs and took their seats around the classroom, which hadn't gone through a major change. It still had circular tables spread around the room at random, though they weren't really crowded in there any more. The poufs and chairs were still there as well, also scattered around the room. But there was no misty, sweet smelling smoke anywhere, though there was a small hint of it in the air, even though the window was open as wide as it would go. There were three bookshelves lining the back wall, positively stuffed with books.

"As Seamus has mentioned, Professor Trelawney will no longer be a teacher here at Hogwarts," said the witch, who was presumably their new Divinations teacher.

"How did you know my name?" Seamus asked in awe as she turned toward him.

"Ah, Lavender would you mind enlightening Seamus to which classroom he is no in? Thank you." She smiled sweetly at Lavender, who instantly obliged the request.

"This is Divinations, Seamus, and she _is_ the new Divinations teacher," she said, obviously enjoying showing Seamus up. "She's probably a Seer, duh."

Seamus glared at Lavender and shrank back in his seat, regretting having said anything in the first place. Harry felt like telling Lavender, "Oh, like Professor Trelawney was a Seer?" but he didn't.

"My name is Mirashar Tanzi, and I am going to be your new Divinations teacher. Now as I'm sure Professor Trelawney has already told you that not all of you will have the Sight, but what she probably didn't tell you is though you might not have the Sight, you will still be able to use this class to a certain extent.

"There will be a handful of you that will have the Sight, and you will find this class fairly easy and I will be able to teach you to perfect your gifts and talents," continued Mirashar Tanzi. "But until we find that handful of you, I will treat all of you as if you were like the greater part of the witch and wizarding population."

Everyone looked around at each other, curious because Professor Tanzi's speech sounded a lot like Professor Trelawney's first speech to them, although Tanzi didn't keep trying to brag to the students by predicting their futures. Some of them swallowed, remembering Trelawney's prediction of Harry's death three years ago.

As if reading their minds, Professor Tanzi said, "I don't feel predicting you futures is a proper way of introducing you to my class. If you'd like to know your future, you'll just have to do it the hard way by finding it yourself."

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Me: Goodness, it's taken me so long to update, but I've gotten a lot of inspiration for this lately, so hopefully I'll be able to update more often.


	15. A Little Bit of Black

The Forgotten Child Chapter: A Little Bit of Black

After Divinations, the group of Gryffindors headed down to lunch. Hermione joined them just outside of the Ancient Runes classroom, and politely inquired how Divinations went. She was a little surprised to note that nothing out of the ordinary happened with Lei, since weird things seemed to be following that girl, and even more shocked to find out that Trelawney had been fired.

"Yup, that old fraud's finally out of the _Seeing_ business," Ron said, putting an emphasis on the word Seeing for dramatic effect. "The new professor's pretty nice, and right away she told us that she didn't think telling us our futures was a good way to start out the class."

"Well, she _sounds_ sensible," Hermione said, righting her book bag on her shoulder, as it was sliding off. "You'll have to keep me updated on her progress, then."

Lei listened to the conversation without much interest, and quickly tuned out and instead took to looking around at the other students milling around in the hallways. She was still a little upset about the incident with Snape earlier, but most of it was anger at herself for loosing her temper like she had. It was true that he had been the one to loose his temper with her first, but that didn't make what she'd done and said okay. She felt a little bit guilty for being so mean to him, but a part of her kept defiantly convincing her that he deserved it. Sighing, Lei wrapped a strand of hair around her finger, admiring the shiny redness of it. She'd always been rather proud of her unique red hair. But something caught her eye. Pulling the strand of hair closer to her face, she noticed something rather odd: toward the middle of the strand, there was a group of black hairs, barely noticeable. She stared at the group with such an odd expression that the others finally noticed her.

"Lei, what _are_ you doing?" asked Harry, looking at her strangely. She blushed and let go of her hair; she was suddenly aware of how weird she must have looked, standing in the hallway examining a strand of her hair.

"Um, nothing. Let's hurry down to the Great Hall. I'm starving!" She started walking faster, not because she was hungry, but to avoid the weird looks she was getting. People must have thought she was insane, which she might very well be_. Honestly, imagining black hair_, she scolded herself, walking even faster and weaving her way in and out of the crowds of students.

"I'm telling you, Harry, I don't think she's all there in the head," Ron whispered to Harry, watching as Lei walked quickly in front of them, her hair swaying with her movements. "She's an odd one, she is."

"I have to admit, she can be a bit…bizarre sometimes," Harry admitted slowly.

"Well, obviously she's in shock," Hermione proclaimed, still fussing with her book bag. Finally she removed a few books from it, and it finally stayed on her shoulder. Hugging the books to her chest, she elaborated at the boys' confused looks, "The family she's known all her life just died, and she's in a completely different world with people she's never met swarming all around her. Clearly something like that would put someone in shock."

"I guess that's true," Harry said, nodding. "Yeah. She's just in shock."

"I still don't trust her," Ron grumbled moodily under his breath. His friends both rolled their eyes at him.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

That night, Hermione forced Crookshanks to sleep out in the common room, so that the girls and Piccola could maybe get some sleep. The small black kitten jumped up onto Lei's bed and began kneading the duvet with her claws, turning in circles. Piccola continued to do this for about five minutes until she finally got comfortable and laid down at Lei's feet. Absently, Lei reached over to pat her kitten on the head, causing Piccola to purr happily.

"Hermione, do you think I'm…. weird?" Lei asked when Hermione emerged from the bathroom, ready for bed.

Startled, Hermione asked, "Why would I think that?"

"I dunno. I guess I feel weird, mostly because of everything that's been happening lately." She tried to shrug nonchalantly, but it didn't turn out very well. "I mean, what with me freezing things all the time, and then that whole thing with Snape…oh, I don't know. I just think I'm weird."

"Everyone's weird in their own ways," Hermione said, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "I don't really think you're weird just because some strange occurrences keep happening around you. It's not your fault you have these powers that you can't control. You shouldn't feel weird for that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Lei agreed, staring at the ceiling. She sighed. "Maybe I feel so weird because I'm not sure how I should act. This whole thing is peculiar to me, because you and Harry and Ron are such close friends, and I feel like I'm kind of intruding on your friendship, demanding attention or something."

"Don't be silly! We're glad to have you here. Just ignore Ron and his stupid comments about you being crazy. If anyone's crazy around here, it's him. We're going to help protect you from whatever it is that keeps trying to attack you, so don't worry."

Smiling, she said sincerely, "Thanks, Hermione, you've helped a lot."

"Good then. I'm glad I can help someone feel better," the other girl mumbled sleepily, climbing into bed. "Goodnight, Lei. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Hermione."

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

The next morning, Harry, Ron, and Ginny sat around the common room, waiting for Hermione and Lei to make an appearance. Crookshanks was crouched at the bottom of the staircase that led to the sixth year girls' dormitories, his yellows eyes glowing, as he, too, waited for the door to open so he could get inside to Piccola.

Finally growing impatient, Ron got up from the chair he'd been sitting in and called up the stairs, "Oi! What's taking so long up there? We're getting hungry out here, and if you don't come down soon, we're leaving without you!"

Ginny frowned at her brother. "That's not a very nice thing to say, Ron---" she began to say, but she was cut off by a loud shriek from the girls' dorms.

Harry shot over to the bottom of the staircase so fast that Crookshanks started to hiss at him. "What's going on up there?" he yelled. "What happened?"

The door swung open to reveal a rather out of breath Hermione, looking utterly shocked. "It's Lei---she---her---" She shook her head, unable to find the words she was looking for.

Suddenly Lei appeared beside Hermione, trembling. Everyone in the common room stared at her, mouths hanging open in shock.


	16. Cat Fight

The Forgotten Child Chapter: Cat Fight

"Look at me!" Lei shrieked, gesturing to her hair. It was now entirely black, and it was curled around her face and shoulders. "My beautiful red hair is _black!_"

"There's nothing wrong with black hair," Harry said somewhat defensively, but Hermione shot him a look that made him quiet. He continued in a more gentle tone of voice, "Besides, now you look a little bit more like my twin now."

"You aren't helping!" his twin cried. She grabbed two fistfuls of her now black hair and pulled slightly. "It was red yesterday, and now it's black! Black! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT, YOU KNOW!"

Hermione winced from beside the shouting girl. "Surely there's a reasonable explanation for this. We just have to find out what that is. Has anything like this ever happened before?"

"Of course not!" Lei snapped back, still pulling at her hair. "If this had happened before, I wouldn't be quite so upset! Look at this!"

"I think she's going a bit insane," Ginny whispered from behind Harry, who turned to give her a brief look of agreement before turning back to the hysterical girl. "Though I can't say as I really blame her, as I'd be upset if my pretty red hair turned black, too."

"I can't believe this is happening," Lei wailed, burying her face in her hands. "This has got to be a nightmare of some kind or something, because this cannot be happening to me."

"I'm sure everything will work out in the end," Hermione said, trying to console the other girl. "All we need is some time in order to---Crookshanks, no!"

While everyone had been preoccupied with Lei and her frantic cries and newly turned black hair, Crookshanks seized his chance to get inside the girl's dorms. He darted between Harry's legs and up the stairs, dodged Hermione's hands, and raced by Lei, who didn't even attempt to catch the runaway cat. Suddenly there was a loud hissing noise from the dorm, and Hermione raced in there.

"Lei! Come help me here!" Hermione cried from inside the dorm. Lei seemed not to have heard her, because she didn't move from her sad position with her head in her hands. "For heaven's sake, Lei Potter! FORGET ABOUT YOUR HAIR AND START WORRYING ABOUT YOUR CAT!"

That seemed to penetrate Lei's depression, as she suddenly brought her head up, and then she darted into the dorm as well. There was more hissing, and then a mewling noise followed by a soft _thud._ Then Lei came back out, rushing down the stairs with a panicked and wriggling Piccola in her arms.

"Get off me you horrid little cat-demon!" Lei cried, shaking her leg madly in the hopes of dislodging Crookshanks from it. The orange cat had apparently attached himself to Lei's leg with his claws in order to get hold of Piccola, who was protesting loudly in Lei's arms and trying to get herself free from the girl's tight hold on her.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione yelled, following the tangled mess of cats and human down the stairs.

"Hermione, get this **_bloody beast_** off of me this instant!" Lei howled, shaking her leg so hard that she lost her balance and fell down the remaining stairs. She landed in a heap at Harry's feet, and Piccola finally managed to get out of her mistress' arms. They could hardly see the streak of black racing across the common room to hide under the couch.

Crookshanks saw her, though, because he untangled himself from Lei's leg and tried to go running after the kitten, but Lei stood up and grabbed him by the orange fur at his neck.

"Oh no you don't," she told him, glaring at the cat and turning to hand him over to Hermione. But Crookshanks would have none of that; he swiped at Lei's face with his claws, causing the girl to cry out in pain and drop him. He landed on his feet with only a slight stumble and headed for the couch that Piccola was under.

Harry turned to Lei to see if she was okay; four long, bloody gashes ran down the length of her face from her cheekbone to her chin. Just then a loud hissing noise broke out from the couch, and then a loud, tortured noise like an animal in pain sounded, and everyone turned to see Crookshanks' paw extended under the couch toward the black kitten, but it wasn't Piccola who had made the noise of pain. Crookshanks darted backwards away from the couch, and they all saw the tiny kitten attached to his front paw by her teeth. The orange cat drew back his paw and slammed it against the leg of the couch, and the kitten's back met the wood of the couch with a barely audible crunch, and she let go of Crookshanks' paw.

But Piccola wasn't done yet. She leap away from the couch toward Crookshanks, who backed away slowly, limping on three feet, holding his bleeding paw up off the ground. He hissed, but she completely ignored the warning and made a swipe at his face. He managed to dodge the brunt of the attack, and only a small section of his face near his mouth got cut. Turning glowing eyes back on the kitten, he pounced on her, and taken by surprise, Piccola fell to the ground under the significantly larger cat.

"Stop it!" both Lei and Hermione cried together, racing to separate the cats, but before they could get there, Piccola yowled loudly in pain as Crookshanks' back claws sunk into the tender flesh of her belly, and she snapped with larger than normal teeth at his ear, which was the only thing she could reach. It was Crookshanks' turn to howl in pain.

Lei and Hermione nearly collided trying to grab their rightful cats. Lei ended up snatching Crookshanks' round the middle and hauling him off her small kitten, who was then carefully scooped into Hermione's arms.

"I believe this demon belongs to you," Lei said sourly, extending the orange cat to Hermione.


End file.
